Doof party organisers fined

ORGANISERS responsible for an illegal doof party that resulted in the death of a man have been fined more than $10,000 by the Kyogle Council.

The three individuals involved were hit with fines of $3,500 each and are in the process of paying the debt.

Dennis Whittaker, 51, of Wadeville, was killed 200 metres from the party when he was hit by a car being driven by a 26-year-old partygoer about 12 months ago.

Mr Whittaker had been refused entry to the party and was walking along Kyogle Road when he was struck down.

Two days before the party, attended by 2000 people, Kyogle Council issued a ‘prevention action’ to its organisers to try to stop it.

However, organisers decided to continue with plans for the doof.

Kyogle Council general manager Arthur Piggott hopes the fines act as a deterrent.

“We hope it does. We looked closely at taking court action but after weighing up the likely result and the likelihood of success we decided it would not be an appropriate use of ratepayer funds,” he said.

“There had been a spate (of doof parties) around the time but it has since eased off but it is something we will keep an eye out for.”